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Below you'll find our latest blog posts - use the menu above to find out details of our forthcoming events, more about the history of the Society, as well as our aims and our membership.

Currently showing blog posts for: February 2017 - . Go BACK to view all posts.

London’s road infrastructure is essentially finite and the priorities for its use continue to change. Autonomous vehicles are a potential game changer in this sphere and the GATEway project in Greenwich is one of several gathering information on how they might interact with pedestrians and other road users.

The London Society has been involved with the Greater London Region (GLR) of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers (IMechE) on two previous occasions through presentations under the theme of Sustainable Urban Mobility, and the South-Western Area of IMechE GLR is pleased to offer a warm invitation to London Society members to attend the latest in the series at Kingston University on 21 March at 18.30 for 19.00 to 20.00.

Prof Nick Reed, Academy Director at TRL and GATEway Technical Lead will describe the objectives of the project and what has been learned so far. The event is co-sponsored by the Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport (CILT) and is free to members of all three organisations. Please book as a guest through the IMechE website

If you wanted to come on our Charterhouse tour with Eric Parry Architects that featured in yesterday’s newsletter – sorry, all the tickets have gone.

This follows sell outs of the Design Museum tour with the director, Deyan Sudjic, and our walk around Spitalfields.

In all cases, we hit our registration limit during the members’ Priority Booking period.

That means all tickets went to members before going on general sale.

If you’d like to come along to future events it might be worth joining (and you can do so here). You’ll get to hear of tours and walks as soon as registration is opened, and you’ll benefit from the members’ priority booking.

Grace Everett, one of the Society’s members, has come up with StatueFindr, a smartphone app that explores Westminster’s rich heritage of statuary, with photographs and biographies on the statues and sculptures, and detailed information about the people who created them. There is information on over 350 sculptures by over 200 sculptors, grouped into topics, or searchable by sculptor name, statue name, or simply by clicking a location on the map.

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There’s huge diversity in sculptural style, subject matter and materials used in the creation of the sculptures in the City of Westminster and these help enrich an understanding and knowledge of Sculpture as well as History, Science, Politics, the Arts, London itself, past monarchs, foreign leaders and individuals who have made huge contributions to the world we live in. StatueFindr provides the opportunity to not only see the sculptures, find out where they are located, but also to learn about the sculptors who created them. The App works just as effectively away from London, but if you’re in London and either walking, in a bus/taxi, StatueFindr will recognise where you are and will provide the name of the sculpture and accompanying biographies for both the individual being commemorated (for example, Winston Churchill) and for the sculptor responsible (Ivor Roberts-Jones).

Cadogan is the historic estate that is shaping a 21st-century Chelsea. Spanning 93 acres of the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, the Cadogan Estate has been under the same family ownership for almost 300 years.

Its foundations were established in 1717 when Charles, 2nd Baron Cadogan, married Elizabeth Sloane, daughter of Sir Hans Sloane, who had purchased the Manor of Chelsea in 1712; the family’s stewardship of the area continues in the hands of the present Viscount Chelsea. Today, the Estate includes approximately 3,000 flats, 200 houses, 300 shops, 500,000 square foot of office space – and over a dozen gardens covering 15 acres.

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At the heart of Cadogan’s management strategy is careful curation of the area, preserving the area’s rich history and charm while ensuring future vitality. The area has developed into a vibrant neighbourhood renowned for a unique mix of dazzling international flagship designer fashion stores, independent boutiques, high-end restaurants, cultural attractions, iconic hotels and stunning homes, set against a backdrop of rich history, elegant streets and beautiful green spaces. Stewardship and community are the watchwords of the Estate: both the family and the company take an active interest in its management. Over the years the Cadogan family has donated land and buildings around Chelsea for schools, social housing, churches, the town hall, fire station and a hospital. In 2000 Cadogan bought a dilapidated church and converted it into a world-class music venue, creating a subsidised home for the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra: Cadogan Hall, just behind Sloane Square.

Chelsea has also become the epitome of London luxury when it comes to shopping. Originally commissioned by Charles, 1st Earl Cadogan in the eighteenth century, Sloane Street has evolved to become one of the world’s most exclusive retail destinations. An impressive list of flagship stores – including designers Tom Ford, Alberta Ferretti, Valentino, Chloé, Emilia Wickstead and Giorgio Armani – line a high-fashion catwalk stretching from Knightsbridge to Sloane Square. Most recently, a 135,000 square foot office and retail scheme on the Street, ‘George House’, has been created and includes both luxury flagship stores and smaller shops for independent artisan use including a village butcher, baker, cheesemonger and greengrocer.

Duke of York Square

Duke of York Squarewas the first new public square to be opened in London for a century, and now hosts a fantastic selection of shops and restaurants, alongside a weekly Fine Food Market. A massive undertaking to redevelop Ministry of Defence land and buildings, the project also created a new home for the Saatchi Gallery, which displays one of the largest private collections of contemporary art and puts on free exhibitions seven days a week.

(As part of the Society’s Great Estates series, Hugh Seaborn from Cadogan will be talking about the history and plans for the future of the Estate on 4 July. Join our mailing list for details of when registration for this event is open.)

Another in our series of pieces about London’s local and civic societies. The Chelsea Society is one of London’s largest and most active groups.

Formed in 1927 the Chelsea Society is a registered charity which currently has more than a thousand members. Its aim is to preserve and improve the amenities of Chelsea by:

stimulating interest in the area’s history, character and traditions;

encouraging good architecture, town planning and civic design, the planting and care of trees, and the conservation and proper maintenance of open spaces;

seeking the abatement of nuisances

To achieve these aims the Society offers advice to owners and architects and to the Local Planning Authority, and if necessary by campaigning, making written and oral representations at public enquiries and planning appeals, and at consultations by public and private developers.

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The Society exists because its past and present members have loved Chelsea for its character, its style, and its charm, and want to maintain those characteristics for future generations, influencing change so that it does not impact adversely on the area. The Society therefore encourages new and altered buildings to be designed so that their size, proportions, architectural style and setting are compatible with the character of Chelsea.

Where changes of use are proposed, the Society seeks to maintain the balance which has been achieved in Chelsea between residential accommodation for people of all income-groups, shops, offices, restaurants, schools, hospitals, open spaces, and other uses.

Governed by a Council, the current Chairman is Dr. James Thompson, who took office in November 2016, the Vice-chairman is Michael Stephen. The Secretary is Jennifer Grossman, and the Treasurer is Michael Illingworth FCA. The Society has published an Annual Report for every year since 1927 and the current editor is Dr. Sarah Ingham. The Society also publishes Newsletters, and the current editor is Michael Bach.

The Planning Committee of the Society comprises Michael Stephen (Chairman) a Barrister and former MP; Sir Paul Lever (Hans-Brompton), formerly HM Ambassador to Germany, and Chairman of the UK Joint Intelligence Committee; Martyn Baker (Chelsea Riverside) formerly Under-Secretary at the DTI and Counsellor at the British Embassy in Washington; Chris Lenon (Royal Hospital) formerly an official of the Inland Revenue, and Chair of the Tax Committee of the Business and Industry Advisory Committee of the OECD; and Patrick Baty (Stanley) a specialist in the use of paint and colour in historic buildings, who was for over twenty years on the Executive Committee of the Georgian Group.

The Society has recently published its vision for the future of Chelsea, and papers on Air Pollution and Basement developments. It has opposed a Crossrail 2 line in Chelsea http://chelseasociety.org.uk/current-casework/

Join Mark Davy, CEO Futurecity for this very special curator led tour of Transcending Boundaries, three rooms of immersive installations, two of which have never been seen before, and which includes work from Illuminated River competition winner Leo Villarreal.

Transcending Boundaries is a stunning, beautiful and immersive set of artworks that explores the role of digital technology in transcending the physical and conceptual boundaries that exist between different artworks, with imagery from one work breaking free of the frame and entering the space of another. The installations also dissolve distinctions between artwork and exhibition space, and involve the viewer through interactivity.

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The largest room in the exhibition includes six works and feature Universe of Water Particles, Transcending Boundaries (2017), a virtual waterfall that extends beyond the gallery wall onto the floor, flowing through the exhibition space and around the feet of the viewer.

Encompassing the second room, Dark Waves (2016) is a simulation of the movement of waves based on the behaviour of hundreds of thousands of water particles. The waves are created in a three-dimensional virtual space, expressing water as a living entity that immerses the viewer and suggests an intrinsic connection with nature.

In the last room, the darkened space is transformed by the presence of the viewer, which activates Flowers Bloom on People (2017). With the body as a canvas for the projections, flowers are in a process of continuous change—growing, decaying and scattering in direct response to the viewer’s movements.

During 2017, the London Society will be running a series of talks, walks and tours with the theme of LONDON’S GREAT ESTATES. These will celebrate the best of the estates while aiming to understand their modus operandi and review what lessons they hold for the London of the future.

Grosvenor, de Walden, Portman, Cadogan, Bedford – the estates of London – are key to the capital’s special and distinctive character. Today modern estates such as Kings Cross, Broadgate and Village East London are also providing some of the benefits of their ancient peers: long-term thinking and investment, high quality placemaking, on-going maintenence and careful stewardship.

The series starts with a introductory talk by London Society Chairman Peter Murray on 4 April (register here). This will look at the role of the Great Estates both in the past and today, and how they have set the character of much of London, and continue to influence development across the capital.

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Talks confirmed so far include:

6 June: Will Bax, Executive Director of Grosvenor’s London estate

4 July: Hugh Seaborn, Chief Executive of Cadogan Estates

3 October: Michael Welbank MBE, Chief Commoner, City of London

23 November: Nick Searl, partner at Argent LLP

Other talks and walks are in the process of being planned and dates will be announced shortly.

The Great Estates series is one of the four major series of events that the London Society has planned this year. Look out also for our talks and tours around the theme of LONDON ICONS, a series of walks, talks and a Saturday school on THE EVOLUTION OF LONDON ARCHITECTURE, and talks, tours and debates to do with the new London Plan: PLANNING FOR 10 MILLION LONDONERS.

Our friends at the Academy of Urbanism run the annual Urbanism Awards to celebrate and learn from 15 more great places – and they need your help in nominating places for this year.

The Awards are designed to promote and learn from places that demonstrate positive social, physical and economic urbanism. There are five Awards in total, including the Great Town, Neighbourhood, Street and Place in the UK and Ireland, as well as the prestigious European City of the Year, awarded last year to Copenhagen in Denmark.

To commemorate the 50th anniversary of Milton Keynes, the Urbanism Awards this year will focus on places built or rebuilt since 1945.

The speakers looked at some of the ways technology can improve the efficiency of services and be more responsive to the future of London’s needs, and examined the opportunities presented, looking particularly at ways in which disparate stakeholders might be involved in the process, and sharing best practice, both in London and beyond.

The Literary London Society Conference ‘Fantastic London: Dream, Speculation and Nightmare’ will be held on 13-14 July.

Proposals are invited (with a deadline of 17 March) for papers, comprised panels, and roundtable sessions, which consider any period or genre of literature about, set in, inspired by, or alluding to central and suburban London and its environs, from the city’s roots in pre-Roman times to its imagined futures.

While the main focus of the conference will be on literary texts, we actively encourage interdisciplinary contributions relating to film, architecture, visual arts, topography and theories of urban space. Papers from postgraduate students are particularly welcome for consideration.

Join the London Society

As a member of The London Society, you’ll get a behind-the-scenes look at the forces that are shaping the future of London and discover a host of fascinating public programmes, tours, lectures and other convenings that celebrate this great city.